Prank Wars
by secretfanficlover
Summary: After Fred wakes up as ghost, he decides that he needs to put Peeves in his place once and for all and show him who is the most legendary prankster Hogwarts has ever seen


**I own nothing.**

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Word Count: 1301

Title: Prank Wars

Beta: White Eyebrow, whitetiger91

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Golden Snitch

[Name] Crissie

[School] Uagadou

[House] Ogyinae

Olivanders:

Festival Of Light: Write using the phrase "knowledge is power" as a theme.

Third Year Anniversary: The Deathly Hallows: 3. Write about someone coming back from the dead.

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The House Cup

[School] Gryffindor

[Subject] Charms

[Category] Standard

[Prompt] [Event] Waking up as a ghost

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Hogwarts

Assignment 7: Ghost Hunting: Hogwarts Ghosts- Task #5 - Write about a character who died in the Battle Of Hogwarts coming back as a ghost.

Yearly:

Prompt 77 [Character] Fred Weasley

Word 76 [Word] Shadow

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Fred woke up. The last thing he remembered was being on a broomstick, pretending to be Harry, and then... then it had all gone black.

"What a strange dream," Fred said to himself, turning to find George, before realising that he wasn't in his bed.

Where was he? He was at Hogwarts; he could tell from the stone walls.

He moved to get up, then realised something odd; his legs didn't feel right. He went over to the mirror and saw himself—he was a ghost! He noticed the missing ear, but that wasn't all he saw; all his family members were sobbing over his dead body.

It all started coming back to him. The fear of dying, of leaving his twin all alone, what caused him to get stuck here, and now, George wasn't even here but he was. He'd chosen to stay behind, knowing his family couldn't heal without his presence.

He wasn't one to focus on the negative, so Fred decided it was time to see what he _could_ do.

He started floating around the castle, when he saw Peeves.

"Oh, ickle student!" Peeves chanted.

"Not any more, I'm Fred," he said. He held out his hand and it touched Peeves for the first time.

"Oh, Fred," Peeves said, slightly less excited.

"Our pranks were legendary, you must admit," Fred insisted.

"I can do better," Peeves argued.

"Then prove it; we will have a prank war to find out once and for all who is the most legendary prankster in Hogwarts," Fred declared.

"Remember, it's just you and me now," Peeves said.

His words upset Fred more than he let on.

* * *

Fred left Peeves with only one focus on his mind: winning the war. He hadn't come this far just to lose to Peeves. He would show everyone that he was the better prankster. All he needed was a plan—a marvellous plan.

He was watching the new first-years. He decided to jump out and surprise them, working on the element of surprise that nobody would expect: a ghost jumping out to scare little first-years. Although Fred knew better, it was one of Peeves's favourite activities.

The two of them had agreed that the one to successfully prank the new headmistress, Mcgonagall, would be the winner. The number of attempts wasn't important, only the end result.

According to Peeves, he had never managed to pull a prank on her; she was the most astute headmistress Hogwarts had ever had. Fred knew that she would be hard to reach, because it was true; she being much more observant than most of the staff. However, she had a weakness that Peeves didn't know about.

Fred didn't want to use the information, but he couldn't let Peeves win; it was a matter of pride. Being stuck in limbo, pride was basically all that he had left.

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"Hello, Headmistress," Fred said, floating around her head as she walked to the breakfast table.

"Fred Weasley, I'm not sure if I'm pleased or upset about your current situation," Headmistress Mcgonagall said.

"Thank you, I suppose," Fred replied.

"What stopped you from moving on?" she asked, and she seemed genuinely curious.

"George," he said without a second thought.

"But you aren't even with him now."

"I know, best laid plans and all that," Fred said, gesturing vaguely in response.

"I see." Mcgonagall shot him a stern look over her glasses before walking off into the Great Hall.

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The first attempt came from Peeves, and it would have been incredible if he had managed to succeed. He had planted Dungbombs in the Great Hall, all set to trigger at the same time and sending the entire school into a tizz. McGonagall, being an Animagus, had used her cat nose to sniff out the offensive objects and had Flitch take them out before breakfast had even started.

"You win some, you lose some, Peevsie," Fred chanted with glee. He was getting off to a good start in beating him.

He needed to outdo his competition, so he decided to try another take on turning the corridor he'd transformed in his seventh year back into a swamp. He began to get some plants growing before he heard footsteps coming his way. Sighing, he had to scatter quickly. There wasn't really anything that the teachers could do to him now—not that he had ever cared that much about losing points to start with—but it was still annoying.

Soon, he realised the only way he would be able to get to the headmistress would be by using her weakness. He didn't want to do it, but he couldn't stand an eternity in Peeves' shadow.

Minerva McGonagall's Animagus form was a cat, but many didn't realise that her cat side also affected her personality. She was very guarded, but once during Christmas, Fred had noticed her knocking the baubles off the Christmas tree. She had a feline side to her that she hid very well, but he needed to exploit this to get his victory and finally call himself the prank master.

He planned it out carefully; he got an empty box to distract the headmistress. Peeves laughed at him as he watched him work. The box was set to transform into a cage to trap the headmistress inside. He lined some catnip in a trail on the floor leading all the way to her office, knowing she wouldn't be able to resist it. As a finishing touch, he added a beautiful red Christmas bauble inside.

When it finally came down to the wire, everything was set up and ready to go. Fred was feeling anxious. Would it work? Would he finally win? It seemed to be working. The box caught the headmistress' attention; her eyes flickered across the room, checking for students or staff who could find her in her current state. When she saw nobody, she transformed into a cat, purring as she moved swiftly towards the box. Before she could reach it, however, Fred had a change of heart; this didn't seem funny, it seemed mean, and that was the line he never wanted to cross.

"Professor, wait," Fred said, his astral form appearing before she reached the box. "It's booby trapped," he confessed.

"You idiot!" screeched Peeves as McGonogall transformed back into herself. "You ruined the entire thing!" Peeves disappeared, and the look on the headmistress' eyes spoke volumes.

"You did this?" she asked, disappointed.

Fred couldn't even speak; he just nodded, floating not far above the ground. He couldn't meet her eyes.

"It's a cool looking box," she said suddenly, surprising him. "What would have happened?"

"It would've turned into a cage, officially making me the greatest prank master in Hogwarts," Fred admitted.

She looked at him with a curious expression. "What made you cave?" she asked.

"It wasn't funny; it was mean," Fred admitted.

"Well, I always appreciated your pranks," she admitted reluctantly, leaning over to pick up some of the catnip leaves off the floor. She started to chew on them.

"You did?" Fred asked, forgetting himself.

"I find them way better than Peeves'," she said, and she transformed back into her cat form. She jumped into the box, knowing exactly what was about to happen. The cage transformed, and she laid there content, knocking around the little ball with her paw.

Peeves reappeared to see the headmistress trapped, and he had to concede that Fred was better than he was.

"I must say, I thought you messed up; well done," Peeves said, holding out his hand in congratulations.

"Thanks, Peeves," Fred said with a grin. As soon as Peeves disappeared, he released the headmistress from the cage.

"I owe you one, Professor," Fred said as he let her out.

"Someone needed to wipe that smile off his face," she replied, grinning back at him cheekily.


End file.
